The Discipline of Praise: Singing the Word

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

      

 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

   



 Spiritual disciplines ... where. to. start. If you are like me, I have all these ideas, but they seem all garbled up in my head and don't seem to come out in any resemblance of order or ease. If I can't get it together, how in the world will I ever be able to display and teach these disciplines to my children?

        Let me say, that I do NOT have it all together. My children know that I do NOT have it all together. They see me in my meager best moments and also at my worst moments. It is a humbling thing to think of even attempting to teach them spiritual disciplines. However, I do think that this is necessary and profitable for me and for them. I think some of us are very afraid of "pursuing holiness" because we will be immediately labelled as pursuing moralism or self-righteousness. Let us lay aside the weight of "what others will think" and pursue the Gospel instead.

       A spiritual discipline is just pursuing the Gospel in a very focused way. Is it hard? Yes. Is it fun? Not always? Is it worth pursuing and passing on to our children? Absolutely.

      I know some of us are afraid of what we might have to add or dare I say it, subtract from our lives. What I try to think about is merely being intentional and faithful. So, we will start with the first discipline of the year: the discipline of praise.


      Discipline: Praise and singing the Word

   Is anyone really that surprised that I would start with this? The discipline of praise is so important to growing in the Christian life, and it happens to be one of the first and one of the easiest ones to introduce to children. 

   If you do not sing at home with your children, please do! My uncle always said, "things learned in song are remembered long." One of the best ways to get God's Truth into the hearts of children is to sing the truths to them. Praise should permeate our lives. We, of all people, have the most to be thankful for. We have a God who has done marvelous things for us and is worthy of all praise. 

We praise Him for who He is AND for what He has done. 

        You can practice this discipline in a number of ways. Let's start with your church:

• Attend a church that sings the Gospel (this will encourage your heart and expose you to hymns and songs of the faith that you can sing with your children during the week)
• Take home the bulletin if it has the words or music and use that during the week to review a song or two with your children (and also for your personal praise)
• Ask your church to provide you with a song list that they sing from so that you can become familiar with the songs during the week
• Ask for your church bulletin EARLY and prepare your children (if they are old enough to be in the service) to sing at least one of the songs
• Place your children in a Sunday school that sings (if you don't know if they sing with your children, ask them. If they don't, volunteer to go in and do it)
• Place your children in a children's choir (if your church has one)

         What about the home: (be purposeful and spontaneous)

• Sing daily to and with your children
• Purposeful - have a set time that you sing each day with your family. This might be at a meal or after the Bible is read together. Whenever it is, plan a time, even if it is five minutes, to sing.
• Purposeful - have some cds or iPods loaded with good music for your children to hear as they play during certain times of the day. Maybe while you cook dinner, or maybe during their rest time. 
• Spontaneous - sing as you walk down the street or down the grocery aisle. Sing when you see the beautiful sky that God paints at sunset or the leaves in the fall. Sing when you see life bursting forth in the spring. Sing in the car. Sing on your bike. Sing as you do laundry...and more laundry...and more laundry. Sing as you change diapers. There are so many times that you can start using this discipline to praise God with your mouth.
• If you can, go to a Bible study with your children (such as BSF) where singing the truths of God is emphasized each week
• Buy a good hymnal and have it in your home. (this one is my favorite for families. Hymnals are expensive, but worth saving up for to help you practice this discipline in your life)

  There are so many ways and ideas. These are just a few. You might be thinking, what might starting something in our home look like if we don't do that now? Or how do I teach children a song if I can't sing or they don't know it at all? 

• Read a Psalm to your children every day. The Psalms is the hymnal of the Bible. Let your children hear you read praise to God
• Purpose to sing one new song with your children each week. Start with the chorus or with the first verse. Pick a song of praise like Holy Holy Holy or Praise to the Lord the Almighty. 
• Each day, explain a new word to your children from the song. Poetry isn't always easy to understand, so help them to praise God with their minds as well as their tongues
• Repetition - I usually sing a new verse three times in a row for my children. By the third time, they start to sing along as well
• Sing a long with a cd or a youtube video if you are uneasy about leading your children by yourself. But remember, it is important for the children to hear your tongue and mouth praise God, not just hear it from a cd or computer. They need to know that joyful praise is beautiful to God. 
• Smile when you sing! As you sing, think about the Gospel yourself, and let what God has done for you show on your face. 

  If you need ideas for songs of praise, look back on my blog, or go to resources like this one. Next week, I will give you a list of songs of praise you can work on this year with your children, as well as connecting the songs we sing to the Psalms specifically. 

   Between this week and next, pick out a song to sing with your children each day. Holy Holy Holy is a great one to start with. If they know the first verse, then teach them the rest. Let's purpose to sing more this week in praise to our worthy God. 

       

Resource Corner

I recommended this book last week. If you have it, go ahead and read Chapter 5 on Worship. This will help you to realize why the discipline of praise is important.